Networked devices such as, for example, multi-function devices, scanners, photocopy machines, client devices, file servers, print servers, and work flow engines are employed in a wide variety of production environments such as, for example, print shops, offices, education institutions, drug stores, libraries, computer labs, and the like. Such networked rendering devices can be communicatively linked with a client device, for example, in order to assist in providing various rendering operations such as printing, scanning, and other operations within a network.
Conventionally, a job can be manually transmitted from one device to another in a network; however, quality issues may result in customer or user dissatisfaction with the transmitted job. Additionally, manual redirection of a job from one device to another can be frustrating, time consuming, and generic rather than specific to the immediate usage profile of the devices in complex rendering applications. Alternatively, networked devices can be configured into clusters, wherein the devices in each cluster are physically proximate to one another. A program routine executed by a network server may direct the job to another device in the cluster. A network server may select the device to which the task is diverted based on device availability. Such prior art approaches do not securely transfer the job and communications between the server and the networked devices typically occur external to a customer or user firewall.
Based on the foregoing, it is believed that a need exists for an improved system and method for automatically redirecting a job in a community of networked devices, as described in greater detail herein.